WWE Battleground 2016

WHEN IS WWE BATTLEGROUND?

WWE Battlegroundwill air Sunday July 24 at the Verizon Center in Washington DC.

CONFIRMED MATCHES

ROMAN REIGNS VS. DEAN AMBROSE (C) VS. SETH ROLLINS

Triple Threat for the WWE Heavyweight Championship

Thanks to his Authority connections, Rollins quickly became Mr. Money in the Bank. Ambrose tried to make his life Hell, only to be distracted by a bizarre feud with Bray Wyatt. Roman Reigns tried to become world champion on his own merits, but when he had his big WrestleManiaMoment, Rollins stepped in and stole it thanks to his Money in the Bank briefcase. Rollins then held onto the title for a long stretch, only giving it up due to injury.

This came to a head at WWE Money in the Bank 2016. Reigns was the reigning champion and defended against the man who never lost it in the first place. Moments earlier, Dean Ambrose won the Money in the Bank ladder match, earning him his own automatic title match. Rollins defeated Reigns and regained his title, only to be ambushed by Ambrose, who cashed in and won his first world title with ease.

On the next night on Raw, Rollins and Reigns battled it out to see who would be #1 contender. It went to a double count-out. Rather than have the match restart, Ambrose just said he’d fight them both, then made sure to lay each one out with Dirty Deeds.

A most interesting wrinkle came the following day when WWE announced that Roman Reigns was suspended for 30 days due to illegal drug use. Had he remained clean,Money in the Bankprobably would have ended a lot differently. Regardless, Reigns’ suspension will be lifted days before Battleground, meaning the match is still on, but without the Big Dog’s involvement in the build.

Huh.

LIKELY AND UNCOMFIRMED MATCHES

John Cena vs. AJ Styles will most definitely continue into a second match. It’s pretty much how most John Cena feuds work. Styles won the first match via chicanery, meaning Cena will beat him two more times. The difference is that Styles is at least self-aware that he’s in this kind of storyline and maybe, just maybe, something unique will happen.

With the Women’s Championship, Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks appears in the cards. Sasha showed up to attack Charlotte after Charlotte retained the title with Dana Brooke’s help. Granted, Paige did help Sasha fight the heels off, but her rather resigned afterwards made it pretty apparent that this is Sasha’s story.

Also with the women’s division, Becky Lynch and Natalya have had issues after they lost their tag match at Money in the Bank and Natalya took out her frustrations on Becky. Being considered the female Sting considering how often she’s betrayed, Becky cut a promo on no longer trusting anyone…which was interrupted by Natalya beating her down. It may be blown off before the PPV, but Becky Lynch vs. Natalya looks to be in the cards.

At Money in the Bank, Rusev retained the United States Championship against Titus O’Neil. Afterwards, he mocked Titus’ children. A rematch was signed for Raw, but didn’t even get to start, as Titus thrashed Rusev for bringing his kids into this. It seems we have at least one more Rusev vs. Titus O’Neil match to sit through.

The Wyatt Family returned to Rawand as Bray was about to do his usual spiel, the New Day arrived, presumably to set up New Day vs. Wyatt Family at Battleground. The part worth mentioning is how Xavier Woods appeared rather hypnotized by Bray’s stare, like he was the guy from Ghostbusters 2.

If there’s one feud that seems to never end, it’s Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn. Though this is a good thing, unlike the crap with Ziggler vs. Corbin. Owens vs. Zayn could happen every other PPV and I’d be pleased. Their history is a long one and they’ve faced each other many times in WWE in various ways. Although Zayn pinned Owens with a roll-up on Raw, the two continued fighting and we’re probably going to need something like a Last Man Standing to finally put this feud to rest…for now.